By Emelia B. Addae
Akim Asene (E/R) Oct. 12, GNA – Cocoa growers in Asene Manso Akroso District say their expectations for a better cocoa price for the new season have not been met as food inflation continues to weigh heavily on Ghana’s economy.
However, farmers have been encouraged to accept in good faith the new price of GH₵800 a bag announced by the Ghana Cocoa Board this month, and to continue working hard to boost output and quality to assist Ghana’s struggling economy.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Kwabena Odame, a cocoa farmer at Akim Asene, stated that while the new price adjustment, which represents 21 per cent for 64 kilogrammes gross weight, was much less than their anticipation of between GH₵1000.00 and GH₵1,200.00, farmers should manage it.
The government last week raised the producer price of cocoa to GH₵12, 800.00 per metric tonne, from GH₵10, 560 for the 2022/2023 harvest season.
Cocoa producers would earn GH₵800.00 for a bag weighing 64 kilogrammes, up from GH₵660.00.
“I understand the country is currently facing economic hardship and the government is doing its best to put in place other interventions such as the Cocoa Farmers’ Pension Scheme to improve farmers’ conditions, so we should cope with the new price,” Mr Odame said.
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, said in a statement that the rise demonstrated the government’s determination to ensure farmers earn a decent livelihood and make cocoa production lucrative.
Several farmers, however, expressed worry about the scarcity and high cost of fertiliser in maintaining their cocoa crops, which is expected to influence crop season productivity.
“Granular fertiliser is scarce on the market, and that is what I always use on my cocoa; this [lack of it] is affecting the growth of the [cocoa] crop; I appeal to the government to make it available,” a farmer, Mr Opoku Agyeman, said.
Another farmer, Esi Amankwa, stated that while folia fertiliser (liquid) is available on the market, granular fertiliser improves yields the most.
“Because granular fertilizer is in short supply, the price is now high…one bag costs between GH₵400.00 and GH₵500.00,” she explained.
However, the Food and Agriculture Minister said that the government will help cocoa growers by making necessary inputs such as fertiliser available and accessible to farmers in order to raise output.
Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast. The two countries account for more than 60 per cent of the worldwide cocoa supply; nonetheless, Ghana requires an annual loan from foreign banks to pay its cocoa farmers for the beans produced.
GNA